In order to curb deaths associated with boat mishaps on inland waterways across the country, the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), has deployed four water ambulances to Lagos, Niger and Port Harcourt.
The deployment of the ambulances was to ensure quick emergency response after boat mishaps on the busy inland waterways routes.
Speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the maiden and official visit of the minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, to NIWA headquarters, Lokoja, Kogi state to unveil the Inland Waterways Transportation Regulations 2023 and commissioning of Police building, hydrographic survey boats, water ambulance among others, the managing director of NIWA, Bola Oyebamiji, said the authority will purchase more ambulances for deployment to other states of the federation.
According to him, the inland waterways code launched by the federal government would help sanitise the waterway as it has stopped all irregularities on the nation's inland Waterways.
"Now, we have distributed four water ambulances to Niger, Lagos and Port Harcourt. We will acquire more ambulances because we can see that the National Assembly members are happy about what we have done so far and I believe when we put it in our budget, they will give accelerated approval."
Speaking on the recently launched waterways code, Oyebamiji said water marshals have been trained to enforce the code and sanitise the inland waterways.
The Marshals, according to the NIWA helmsman, will stop night voyage, ensure registration of boat operators and manifest on everyone onboard a ferry or boats.
"The launching of the code is important as that is what will give us the power and authority to enforce and sanitise the waterways because that's what has been lacking in the past years.
We have worked so hard to ensure that we have this code and to complement the code, we have the water marshals that have been trained to enforce them.
The water marshals will enforce the codes and that's why we have four boats to make sure that they enforce and stop boats in our waterways without life jackets, manifest or who haven't registered with us. We have strategies to enforce it and we train them to be able to swim. The next thing is to enforce and we have other layers that will supervise them.
Currently, we have code to stop night voyage because the code specified that operation is now 6 am to 6 pm and the marshals are to enforce this strictly," he ended.
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Speaking further, the NIWA boss stated that the authority has created a database of critical stakeholders and opinion moulders within the system for information dissemination and rapid response during mishaps.
"We audited and institutionalised our public engagement strategy by putting in place a system which recognises the communities as an important element in our information-sharing and emergency response structure.
"Today, through the Area Offices, we have met and created a database of critical stakeholders and opinion moulders within the ecosystem that can be reached for information dissemination and rapid response.
"Similarly, we have equally intensified our efforts in public enlightenment and enforcement. This is why we are launching the first phase of the water marshal initiatives today. These officers were carefully selected to provide information daily to users of the waterways at selected jetties and loading points. They must ensure that all users adhere strictly to safety regulations," he argued.
